In order to protect control line tubing cable or wires, as well as to support their weight during insertion and removal of production pipe or tubing in oil wells or other types of wells, it has been found advantageous to clamp the control lines tightly to the main production tubing of the well.
Previous clamping devices for this purpose have often been unsatisfactory either in not providing adequate holding power so that the control line is allowed excessive movement resulting in damage or in clamping the control lines so tightly as to cause crushing or other damage to the lines. Many of these clamps comprise a hinged cylindrical metal framework molded within a rubber coating and adapted to be closed around and secured in pressure contact to the production tubing of the well. In some of these types of clamps, grooves are provided in the rubber interior wall of the clamp through which the control lines pass. In others of these types of clamps, rubber "standoff" structures with narrow neck or "keyhole" shaped slots are molded into the outer rubber wall. In the types with slots provided in the inner walls of the clamp, however, it has been found that the control lines are easily crushed when the clamp is applied with sufficient pressure to prevent slippage of the clamp up and down or around the tubing. This is sometimes because the walls of the grooves or slots are unsupported and tend to distort under pressure and because the backwall of the groove receives direct inward pressure from the metal framework of the device as the clamp is tightened. Even when the metal framework is so constructed as to provide an offset around the slot area, the required clamping pressure may cause such flexing of the metal frame that the control line is still crushed or damaged. In the second type of structure, the clamp can be adequately tightened to prevent slippage on or around the tubing but the control lines are often not securely enough clamped and held in the slots to avoid damage under many likely circumstances.
The control line clamp of the present invention is of the type providing longitudinal slots or channels along its interior walls to receive and hold the control lines. This protector clamp comprises a pair of rubber coated semicylindrical laterally ribbed skeletal main elements hinged together along one side and adapted on their other sides to receive a tapered pin in tapered interleaved slots whereby the protector can be closed and releasably clamped around the well tubing. One or both of the semicylindrical main elements includes an offset longitudinal channel or groove formed intermediate the hinge and latch edges and reinforcing braces connected thereto.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a control line protector clamp adapted to affix control lines firmly to well tubing without crushing or damaging the control lines.
It is a further object to provide a control line protector clamp which may be quickly and easily but firmly attached to well tubing.
It is a still further object to provide a control line protector clamp for holding control lines closely adjacent well tubing while providing protection of the control lines from damage resulting from contact with the walls of the well casing or the bore tube.